After some time away due to School I am back to relaunch Stars and Strikes just in time for the world cup. I am hoping to be able to bring back all of the old readers since we had some real good conversations going. Anyone who has requests or advice let me know and I will try and make this site as good as it was before if not better.

So Landon Donovan has Swine Flu… You would think he got this in his time in Mexico but it turns out that he probably got it from his Galaxy Coaches during his trip to New England:

According to the Los Angeles Times, a pair of Galaxy team staffers (an administrator and chiropractor) who travel with the squad fell ill during the team’s trip to the Massachusetts to play the New England Revolution.
Soon after, Donovan began to feel poorly.

So he was sick during the game vs Mexico probability not a good combination with the altitude, pollution and heat…. so take that for whats its worth. However the USMNT is saying they had no idea that Donovan was sick:

“As part of the press release that announced the preventative measures U.S. Soccer expressed that they had no knowledge of Donovan being sick while he was in camp or during their trip to Mexico and it is presumed that he most likely came in contact with the virus while with his club team in L.A.
The most troubling issue is that Donovan never mentioned his illness to the U.S. team, opting to fight through it rather than alert the doctors ahead of the match against Mexico.
Donovan is quoted in the L.A. Times as saying that he began coughing on Monday and felt tired ahead of the match on Wednesday.
With the conditions is Azteca already hard enough to deal with, playing with an illness could have been a very costly mistake, both for Donovan and for the team. With the news not breaking until the team had split and was once again spread out all over the globe, the preventative measures could be hard to implement.
According to Galaxy manager Bruce Arena Donovan could be an option on Saturday for his club team but his availability will be determined by how he feels before the match.”

Because of this the US national team is taking measures to protect their players:

“U.S. Soccer is trying to take preventative measures against the further spread of the influenza A virus which star midfielder Landon Donovan tested positive for a day after the U.S. lost to Mexico.”
“We have prescribed the medication to players, coaches and staff members who may have come in close contact with Landon Donovan solely as a preventative measure,” said Dr. David Wallis, a member of the U.S. Soccer medical staff in a press release. “Based on CDC recommendations, individuals who did not experience close contact with the player, such as journalists, fans or opposing players, do not need to take any preventative measures. As of now, no other member of the U.S. team delegation has indicated any symptoms associated with the virus and at this time we do not believe additional steps are necessary. However, we will be continuing to monitor the situation and CDC recommendations very closely as we continue to learn more.”

And now club teams have begun to worry as Cherundolo has been quarantined:

“Unsure of whether U.S. Men’s National Team defender Steve Cherundolo is infected, Hannover have decided to quarantine the 30-year-old until it has become medically clear he doesn’t have the virus.
“Until we have clarity, it would be irresponsible not to isolate Stevie from the team,” Hannover director of sport Joerg Schmadtke said of the preventive measure to the club’s website.”

Hopefully this dose not affect any playing time for USMNT players, however it is speculated that Michale Bradley will be quarantined soon as well, with their clubs because its time for us to start using all of our new additions to top European Clubs as a way to improve our players and team as a whole.

Tim Howard has said that he doesn’t think the officiating was too fair in the loss vs Mexico yesterday.Says SI.com:

“It seems like when we come to a place like this, the most intimidated person in the stadium is the referee,” said goalkeeper Tim Howard after the USA’s 2-1 loss to Mexico. “The bar was probably tilted in their favor, and that’s unfortunate because it was a hard-fought game. We went in hard, they went in hard, and for some reason, we keep coming out with the foul.”

I don’t like to blame the Ref’s usually, just because its not the right thing to do and you can’t fix it or really prove anything, but the fact that we lost Onyewu for the next game is very frustrating. Also we have to deal with the fact that its everyone against the US in every aspect of our games.

So today is the big game! The game is at 3pm and will be shown on Mun2 in English and Telemundo in Spanish. There will be a pregame show on ESPN the first ever pre-game show they do for a soccer game that they are not actually showing. If you are like me than you do not get Mun2 (although they are adding it to all satellite customers for the game today free) because I have cable. So I will be out and not able to add posts about the game today. I will be able to comment though and will try to update that way. Go USA!!!

So there’s a website called Sports Club Stats that does the odds for making the World Cup out of the CONCACAF region. They say that our current odds of making the WC are 95.5% while our chance of finishing number 1 is 31%. There are some neat charts and tables but this one shows the implications of our game with Mexico tomorrow:

Wednesday, 8/12

Mexico

vs

USA

4:00 PM

Chance in World Cup if:

Mexico wins

USA wins

Draw

Mexico

66.1

30.7

42.7

El Salvador

26.6

37.4

33.3

Honduras

65.3

75.6

72.0

USA

89.3

99.4

96.7

T & T

4.1

7.5

6.1

Costa Rica

98.6

99.4

99.2

So pretty much if we beat Mexico tomorrow were in almost for sure and their odds are very bad. If we lose they are probably going to make it, and we are still sitting pretty well but a little less certain. If we draw our odds are pretty great as well. So while tomorrow is very important for pride and revenge, it is not the most important game for us in terms of the WC. But it is for Mexico…